Here’s a fun fact about me: I used to be a serious competitive dancer. I was involved with intense dance companies growing up that would compete all around New England, and even a few national competitions in the summer. Two or three nights during the school week I would take classes at my studio, then Saturdays were filled with day-long practices where we drilled those routines into our skulls over, and over, and over again. I was seven when I started. Seven.
Anyway, I write all of this because after a long rehearsal, I would almost always eat one of those Marie Callendar’s frozen chicken pot pies for dinner because they were easy to make—and didn’t require my mom to make dinner again since I was always getting home late. I miss those little pot pies…not so much those intense dance practices…and thought I would remake my very own mini chicken pot pies for the blog.
I’m telling you right now…these mini chicken pot pies are so easy to make, I’m almost pissed at myself for never trying it before. Mostly because this was my first time actually working with frozen puff pastry. I know. Who am I?
That’s right. For this mini chicken pot pies recipe, I do not make my own pastry crust. No way, josé. I bought a frozen puff pastry because boy did it make cooking this delicious meal so much easier—and it already tastes so good. Maybe someday I’ll be ambitious and make my own puff pastry for this recipe. But today is certainly not that day.
As you can tell from the above picture, they don’t always look perfect. But that’s always the charm of the cozy, comforting, chicken pot pie, right? Once you break into that flaky crust and dig into the creamy goodness on the inside, you totally forget what it even looked like. Just sprinkle some thyme on the top for decoration. That’s clearly what I did, ha.
So here’s something up for debate between my husband and me—is a mini chicken pot pie actually the original size of a chicken pot pie, similar to Marie Callendar’s? Or has it always been in a large pie crust? We debated on this for a while. But I concluded that anything with “mini” in the title is way cuter to post, and I like cute things, okay?
Which means you’re going to need some ramekins to make these. This recipe makes four mini chicken pot pies, and I would say either 4 oz. ramekins or 6 oz. ramekins would be perfect for this recipe.
Use puff pastry for these mini chicken pot pies
As I mentioned, you’ll want to snag frozen puff pastry for this recipe. A box typically comes with two sheets, but you’ll only need one sheet for this! Make sure to defrost the puff pastry sheet in the fridge for 24 hours before baking these bad boys.
When it’s time to use the puff pastry, you’ll want to cut it up into eight small pieces. Based on the shape of it, you will likely end up with eight rectangular puff pastry pieces. Don’t worry—that’s also what I did! All you have to do is lightly stretch the puff pastry with clean hands, then press it into a ramekin that was previously coated with butter. And for the top, stretch out the puff pastry enough to fold over the filling, and press into the sides.
Lastly, you’ll want to make little slits in the top so the steam of the mini chicken pot pies can release and it won’t totally explode in the oven. The recipe says to use a serrated knife, but in all honesty, I used my bread scorer for it.
As I said, they probably won’t look totally perfect. But who cares! These mini chicken pot pies are so simple to make and taste absolutely delicious, it won’t matter. Promise.
Other easy chicken recipes to make
You’ll need leftover cooked chicken for this recipe. Or simply cook it up yourself as you prep the ingredients for these mini chicken pot pies. But I would say that getting a rotisserie chicken for this would just be oh-so-easy for you.
And now that you’re grabbing a rotisserie chicken, might as well use it up!
- Chipotle Chicken Bacon Toastie
- Chicken Flatbread
- Crispy Breaded Chicken
- Sheet Pan Chicken Nachos
- Creamy Chicken Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes
I’m all about using up leftover chicken in recipes, so I’m sure I’ll be posting similar ideas in the future. Sign up for my newsletter and you’ll never miss one!
Mini Chicken Pot Pies
Equipment
- Ramekins
Ingredients
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 small yellow onion diced small
- 1 garlic clove minced
- 1/4 cup frozen peas
- 4 Bella mushrooms chopped small
- 1 carrot peeled & chopped small
- 1 cup cooked chicken diced small
- 1 10 oz. can of cream of chicken
- 2 tbsp milk
- 1 puff pastry sheet defrosted
- Butter for coating
- 1 egg
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- Heat up the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat.
- Add the onion, minced garlic, frozen pas, mushrooms, and carrot pieces into the skillet. Stir and cook for about 3 minutes.
- Add in the cooked chicken, cream of chicken, and milk. Stir to combine.
- Turn the heat down low and let the chicken mixture cook until it starts bubbling. Immediately remove from the heat.
- Cut the puff pastry up into 8 even pieces.
- Coat the inside of four ramekins by sliding the butter on the inside of each.
- Place a piece of puff pastry inside a ramekin, pressing it in so it covers the entire inside (like a mini pie). Repeat for the other ramekins.
- Scoop the chicken mixture evenly into the four ramekins.
- Lightly stretch a piece of puff pastry and cover the top of the ramekin, tucking and pressing the edges of the pastry dough over the sides so it is completely covered. Repeat for all of the ramekins.
- Make small slits with a serrated knife in the top of your mini chicken pot pies.
- If desired, whisk the egg in a small bowl. Using a pastry brush, spread the egg on top.
- Place all of the ramekins on a sheet pan, then put the sheet pan in the oven.
- Bake for 30 minutes.
- Serve with a side of roasted vegetables!
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